Wow a lot of new people reviewed! Did the lurkers decide it was time to speak up! Well I hope that everyone who is new to this fic has read Love Lives Bleeding the prequel to this! This chapter is dedicated to everyone who's been on my back because it's been a few days and I haven't updated…please don't kill me.

By the way, my next fic will be up the day after this one is completed.

Chapter Eleven- Don't Breathe Too Deep

This wouldn't be pretty.

Your wife and your ex-wife working to save your daughter. But then again, you were working with the woman who had brutally murdered your father; in fact you married her daughter. And your brother? Well there was no telling what would happen with him. So in perspective your wife and your ex-wife working together didn't seem so crazy after all. It was rather normal when compared to every thing else that had occurred in your life.

Vaughn shook himself out of his musings to examine the people surrounding him. Sark and Lauren were in the front seat of the van, his arm thrown over her shoulders, as he drove casually along the twisting road. Irina was sitting against one wall of the van, her face unreadable. Every so often, Vaughn caught a particular sadness flashing through her eyes. He wondered what that was all about. Years of knowing Irina had definitely changed his opinion of her. He once thought she was a hardened criminal with no emotions and no purpose other than to destroy people's lives, her own daughter included.

How wrong he had been.

And then there was Sydney. She was leaning against him, directly opposite from her mother. His arm was around her waist and her arms encircled his lower torso. He had encouraged her to get some sleep; she hadn't had any since Erica had been taken, probably even before that. She hadn't listened. Her emotions were obvious to him. Vaughn saw sadness, fear, and exhaustion in her face. But whenever she heard Lauren's voice, her face became full of anger, and what surprised Vaughn the most, pity.

Night fell and eventually the van stopped. As they exited the van, Vaughn noted that the castle where sixteen years ago Erica's life began, and were Eric and Jack's life had ended, was only about half a mile away. Sydney's eyes saw the castle too and she tensed in his arms, desperate, not only to have her daughter back, but to be away from the place were so much sadness had occurred. Vaughn looked at Irina who had tears in her eyes.

"This is where Jack and I stopped sixteen years ago when we came to rescue you."

"Mom..." Sydney whispered, unsure of what to say, as her mother remembered her last night with Jack.

Sark, oblivious to the memories the castle where bringing back to them, began handing them guns.

"Listen to me. I will lead all of us to the castle through a back route. When we enter we will be in the ground floors. Erica is on the third floor in the east wing. She is in the room with the red door. Lauren and I will take out surveillance and most of the guards. The General and all of the sect members are at some ceremony at the museum in Fluery devoted to the Count duRene (A/N: That was Danny, Sark, and Vaughn's real father). We won't have to deal with them. Vaughn, Sydney and Irina will head up to rescue—"

"No" Vaughn interrupted. "We will not let you two go alone. What if you feel the urge to double cross us? I will go with you to make sure that you stay loyal. Irina and Syd can go get Erica."

"I will go with them, Michael. Erica wants you and Sydney more than she wants me. I will make sure they stay true to their promises."

"Fine." Sark agreed. "Let's just get going. After you have Erica, come to the surveillance room, it is in the same place. We will then make our escape and the happy family can go on its merry way."

Sark led them through the meadow in a dizzying path of doubling back and circling around. Eventually they reached a side portion of the castle that had one lone door. It was made of rough stone and not very noticeable, unless you knew it was there. Sark entered the door first and shot the guard with a silenced gun. Irina followed Sark and Vaughn motioned for Lauren to go next. Sydney ducked in after Lauren, and Vaughn followed close behind, shutting the door. Briefly he remembered that there were no cameras down here. Someone had forgotten to wire this section of the castle when the castle had been rewired. It would have cost too much to redo the whole thing, and they were to paranoid to have one camera on a separate system as all the rest. So they had opted for a 24 hour armed guard.

Once they were all inside, Sark motioned for Lauren and Irina to follow him and told Vaughn he would send him an all clear signal on the comms once the guards and the cameras had been disabled. Silently, Sark and Lauren walked deeper into the castle with Irina following them, making sure they weren't going to slip out of her sight.

He was alone with Sydney for what felt like the first time in days. Sydney glanced up at him and sighed, snuggling gently into his chest.

"There are so many bad memories here."

"There is one good one Syd."

"Which one?"

"Erica's birth."

"Oh yea? That's a good memory? Well for you maybe, but I was pushing a baby out. Having my teeth pulled out is a better memory than that."

Vaughn laughed, knowing Sydney was joking.

"Well it's not my fault you insisted on getting pregnant."

"Excuse me? But I believe it is your fault. After all it takes two to tango."

"When did we tango?"

"Oh Michael, I do love you."

"I should hope so."

Sydney rolled her eyes and opened her mouth but was interrupted by Sark's voice coming over the comms.

"Ok you two are good to go."

"Right." Vaughn said "Come on baby; let's go get our daughter back."

The couple raced down the hallway and up several flights of stairs. They had no trouble until they reached the third floor. They encountered two guards in the east wing, but they took them down easily.

"Right, red door…the bastards." Vaughn mumbled as he stopped in front of an all too familiar red door.

"What's wrong…oh my. The bastards. I can't believe that they put her in the same room..."

"Where they killed Eric." Vaughn finished, trying to push back tears. He looked at Sydney who was in tears. "Come on sweetie, let's get our little girl"

Vaughn swung open the door and stepped into the room full of painful memories His eyes drifted to a bloodspot still visible on the floor before something swung at his head, knocking him out.

Dun dun dun. Cliffhanger!